Israel & Palestijnen Blog: 2008-02-24

zaterdag 1 maart 2008

Hamas verbetert raketten

Heel Israël in Sderot veranderen, of erger, als men niet alleen raketten ontwikkelt die heel Israël kunnen treffen, maar ook preciezer gericht kunnen worden, en dus meer slachtoffers maken. Als Israël niks doet, als de grenzen open gaan, en Hamas zich vrij kan ontwikkelen, zal deze nachtmerrie uitkomen. Een Hamas woordvoerder zei dat men in oorlog is met 'de nieuwe nazi's', verwijzend naar een opmerking van Vilnai:

Zuhri's comment came after Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i said Friday that "as long as the rocket attacks escalated, the Palestinians are bringing upon themselves a bigger Shoah [Holocaust]."

Shoah is het Hebreeuwse woord voor katastrofe, en dit is abusievelijk met 'Holocaust' vertaald. Zie: Reuters Holocaust Shoah

Ratna

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Hamas says it's improving rockets

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1204213990469&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Hamas is improving its rocket technology, and will soon be able to "any target in Israel," Reuters quoted a senior member of the organization, Fathi Hamad, saying Friday at a rally in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who was recently reported to have "gone underground" out of fear he would be targeted for assassination by Israel, also spoke at the demonstration. Haniyeh addressed the possibility of a large-scale IDF incursion into Gaza.

"[Such an] operation would end in total failure for Israel, just like the rest of its operations in the past," Haniyeh declared.

"Israel is living under a delusion if it believes that it can topple the Hamas regime in Gaza… Even if Israel kills our leaders, it can't damage the purpose of [our] struggle," he continued.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri also spoke about a possible IDF operation in the Gaza Strip, saying that Hamas was "in a war against the new Nazis."

Zuhri's comment came after Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i said Friday that "as long as the rocket attacks escalated, the Palestinians are bringing upon themselves a bigger Shoah [Holocaust]."

Reuters Holocaust Shoah

Zo worden de anti-Israël citaten gecreëerd. Reuters vertaalde opmerkingen van vice-defensieminister Vilnai, waarin het Hebreeuwse woord 'shoah' voorkwam verkeerd. Zoals hieronder uitgelegd, betekent dit 'katastrofe' en wordt in het alledaagse taalgebruik in die betekenis gebruikt, maar Reuters vertaalde dit met 'Holocaust'.

Verschillende Britse en Duitse kranten en pro-Palestijnse media hebben de verkeerde vertaling al overgenomen, en Hamas noemde Israël 'de nieuwe nazi's'.

Ratna

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Friday, February 29, 2008

Reuters Holocaust Shoah

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2008/02/reuters-holocaust-shoah.html

[Feb. 29] Reuters news service either deliberately or by accident mistranslated remarks by Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai. Because it involved the omnipotent word "Holocaust," this triggered an international news libel against Israel.

Vilnai said:

"As the Qassam rocket fire [on Israeli civilians] intensifies and increases its range, the Palestinians are bringing upon themselves a bigger catastrophe because we will use all our might to defend ourselves."

In Hebrew, he had said, "Yamitu al azmam shoah gdolah yoter." That means, "Will bring upon themselves a greater disaster. Reuven Alcalay's English Hebrew dictionary lists catastrophe, ruin or destruction among the most frequent meanings of "shoah." It also means "pit" or "abyss." "Hashoah," with the definite article, means "the Holocaust." That was not what Vilnai said. The phrase is a Hebrew cliche of common officialese. "Holocaust" means the destruction of European Jewry. It literally means a whole animal offered as burnt offering. It cannot be greater or lesser, because in Hebrew at least, Ha Shoah can only refer to that one event. Genocide of other peoples is generally referred to as "Rezach Am" - a literal translation meaning "murder of a people."

World Media were quick to accuse Israel of plotting genocide against the Palestinians, without bothering to check the meaning of the phrase with the source.

British newsmedia and Reuters, were particularly energetic:

Reuters: Israel minister warns Palestinians of "shoah"
The BBC: Israel warns of Gaza 'holocaust'
The Guardian: Israeli minister warns of Palestinian 'holocaust'
The Times (of London): Israel threatens to unleash 'holocaust' in Gaza

Another blood libel has been created, and it won't go away so easily. Tom Gross has some more details.

vrijdag 29 februari 2008

Abbas sluit terugkeer naar gewapend verzet niet uit

Abbas heeft geweld tegen Israëlische burgers altijd veroordeeld om taktische redenen - het is schadelijk voor de Palestijnse zaak, en geeft Israël slechts het excuus om meer geweld te gebruiken. Ik heb mij daar meermaals aan gestoord en zie het ook als bepaald niet vertrouwenwekkend, maar nieuw is het niet. Over zijn dissertatie, waarin Abbas de omvang van de Holocaust ter discussie stelde en de Zionisten mede verantwoordelijk stelde, zei hij later slechts dat hij dat nu niet zo zou schrijven omdat dat niet zo handig is nu hij in een vredesproces zit met Israël. Hij verontschuldigde zich niet en nam er niks uit terug.

Pragmatisme hoort bij politiek, maar enig vertrouwen is ook nodig, zeker als je van je vijand vraagt om land aan jou over te dragen. In het Westen schijnt niemand zich aan deze houding te storen, behalve een paar verstokte Zionisten. Vreemd, gezien de harde morele oordelen die men constant uitspreekt over Israël.

Ratna

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Abbas: Armed 'resistance' not ruled out

JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

Feb. 28, 2008
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1204127196532&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said that he does not rule out returning to the path of armed "resistance" against Israel and took pride in the fact that he had been the first to fire on Israel and that his organization had trained Hizbullah.

In an interview with the Jordanian daily al-Dustur, Abbas said that he was opposed to an armed struggle against Israel - for the time being.

"At this present juncture, I am opposed to the armed struggle because we can't succeed in it, but maybe in the future things will be different," he said.
The PA president also expressed pride both in himself and his organization, Fatah, for trailblazing the path of resistance.

"I had the honor of firing the first shot in 1965 and of being the one who taught resistance to many in the region and around the world; what it's like; when it is effective and when it isn't effective; its uses, and what serious, authentic and influential resistance is," Abbas said.

"It is common knowledge when and how resistance is detrimental and when it is well timed," he added. "We (Fatah) had the honor of leading the resistance and we taught resistance to everyone, including Hizbullah, who trained in our military camps."

Petitie tegen Israël Prijs voor Professor Sternhell

Professor Sternhell is niet alleen tegen de kolonisten, maar hekelt ook de fundering van de staat Israël. Hij heeft een boek geschreven over de Labor Zionistische beweging waarin hij die neerzet als een expansionistische, nationalistische, agressieve beweging. Kortom, het bekende revisionistische verhaal waarin het Zionisme inherent slecht was en uit op onteigening van de Arabieren, met de bekende verdraaide en selectieve citaten van Ben-Goerion om dat te 'bewijzen'.

Dat veel Zionisten zich in het begin van de eeuw niet konden voorstellen dat men een leger zou hebben en oorlogen zou voeren, dat men oprecht dacht met de Arabieren vreedzaam samen te kunnen leven, dat men een Joodse meerderheid puur door immigratie en niet door verdrijvingen dacht te kunnen bereiken, dat de Palestijnse Arabieren in de periode tussen 1900 en 1948 in aantal verdubbelden, en hun welvaart, levensduur, en levensomstandigheden toenamen vanwege Zionistische ontwikkeling van het land, dat wordt door mensen als Sternhell genegeerd.

Hij heeft het recht zijn visie op zaken te geven, maar een nationale prijs lijkt mij wat teveel eer.

Ratna

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Stop the shame! No Israel Prize to a civil war inciter!

[ www.haforum.org.il/newsite/atzoma.asp to sign petition in Hebrew]

We, the undersigned, citizens of the State of Israel, believe in the civil liberty and the right of every citizen to live in peace and protest the award of the Israel Prize to Professor Zeev Sternhell.

Over the years, Professor Sternhell has made several outrageous statements against the residents of Judea and Samaria, justified terrorism against them, and called for a civil war.

In his article, "Against the Moonstruck Government" (Haaretz, May 11, 2001) Sternhell legitimized arab terrorism in Judea and Samaria and advised the terrorists to focus their efforts on the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, as a means for turning the Green Line into an international border.

Many Israelis, possibly the majority of the voters, do not doubt the legitimacy of the armed resistance in the territories proper. Had the Palestinians the least bit of sense, they would have concentrated their struggle against the settlements and would not hurt women and children, fire rockets on Gilo, Nachal Oz, and Sderot, or plant explosives on the western side of the Green Line. In this manner, the Palestinians would themselves draft the solution that will be reached in any case. The adjusted Green Line will serve as an international boarder, while a land exchange will compensate the Palestinians for the areas that have been or will be annexed to the State of Israel.

Several years prior, in Davar (April 5, 1988), Professor Sternhell saw a civil war as a way of reinforcing the Israeli democracy, "only those willing to storm Ofra with tanks, will be able to stop the fascist wave threatening to drown the Israeli democracy."

Although the Israel Prize is awarded for achievements and not for opinions, as a national prize, awarded by the state via the Ministry of Education, it is meant to express recognition. The Israel Prize turns its recipients into objects of national pride and consensus. The prize is awarded in the name of all the Israeli citizens, including those, whom professor sternhell views as legitimate targets for terrorism.

In the past, the Israel Prize has been revoked for inappropriate statements. The award committee would have never thought of awarding the Israel Prize to anyone legitimizing terrorism against any population group. The "settlers" are no less human than the rest of the Israeli citizens and professor Sternhell's statements make him unworthy of the prize, even if he shares the political opinions of the Minister of Education.

We call on the prize committee to revoke the award of the Israel prize to Professor Sternhell. On the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, there are many worthier candidates for national recognition.

Professors for a strong Israel
POB 7010 Jerusalem 91070, Israel
www.professors.org.il

The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel
www.haforum.org.il

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IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

IDF chef: Hamas kan binnen dagen Westoever overnemen

Zouden al die vredesactivisten, politici en sympathisanten van de Palestijnen die vinden dat Israël zich onmiddelijk uit de Westoever moet terugtrekken, daar weleens aan denken? De kans is groot, gezien de weinige ophef die de coup van Hamas in de Gazastrook afgelopen juni veroorzaakte, dat men dat niet zo'n probleem vindt. Zo'n coup reflecteert de wil van de Palestijnen, ook al staat Fatah in de peilingen al maanden voor, en Hamas heeft toch een fijn sociaal netwerk? Dat ze de kinderen al jong leren dat een Jood voor je ontbijt erbij hoort en ze jongeren recruteren om voor Allah te sterven, is natuurlijk slechts Zionistische laster.

Ratna

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IDF W. Bank chief: Hamas could take over in days

JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 26, 2008
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1203847473168&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

"Without the massive IDF presence in the West Bank, Hamas would take over the institutions and apparatuses of the Palestinian Authority within days," OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni told President Shimon Peres Tuesday as the two toured the Command's main base in Jerusalem.

Shamni said Hamas was engaged in a constant effort to increase its influence in the region "and its presence is felt in hospitals, preschools, schools, universities and mosques."

Peres was shown a Kassam rocket and launcher captured in Nablus. "Although there are no rocket attacks emanating from the West Bank, we've found rockets produced here, and this tells us that there are [rocket production] labs in the region," Shamni said.

Shamni said the Palestinian Authority was exerting great efforts in keeping the public order but was not seriously working to stop terrorists operating in the West Bank. On the other hand, he said, "for the first time in a decade, the IDF, intelligence services and the police have managed to almost completely prevent terror attacks on the home front."

Qassams bereiken mogelijk volgend jaar centrum Ashkelon

De Qassam raketten hebben nu een maximumbereik van circa 16 kilometer. Ashkelon, een stad met meer dan 100.000 inwoners ligt 17 km van de Gazastrook. Hamas werkt continu aan het verbeteren van de raketten, die in 2001 nog maar 8 km ver kwamen.

Wordt Ashkelon voor het einde van het jaar een tweede Sderot?

Ratna

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'Kassam range may reach 20 km. by 2009'

Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST

Feb. 28, 2008
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1204127203676&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Hamas will likely be able to expand the range of its homemade rockets to 20 kilometers by the end of the year, an Israel security official said Thursday.

Such an upgrade could give Hamas an unlimited supply of rockets for targeting the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, which is 17 kilometers from Gaza and has 110,000 residents, military analysts said.

Currently, Hamas uses smuggled military-issue Iranian rockets, of which it has a limited supply, to take occasional aim at Ashkelon. Four such rockets hit the southern part of the city Wednesday, including one that fell in the parking lot of a hospital, as part of an escalation in Israel-Gaza cross-border fighting that has killed 23 Palestinians and an Israeli man in the past two days.

The IDF said Hamas's rockets, which started out with a range of 7-8 kilometers in 2001, now have a reach of up to 16 kilometers. The rockets are widely referred to as Kassams because they were developed by Hamas's militant group's military wing, Izzedine al Kassam.

"We are doing our best to upgrade our capabilities," said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Izzedine al Kassam. "We will never have equipment comparable to our enemy, but we are working all the time to have enough to make any aggression a regrettable adventure for the enemy."

In recent years, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets at the Israeli border town of Sderot, just 2 kilometers from Gaza. As part of an escalation of cross-border fighting, Hamas fired scores of rockets Wednesday, including one that killed a 47-year-old man at a community college in Sderot. At the same time, 23

Palestinians, including many terrorists, but also a baby, were killed over two days by Israeli missile strikes.

A senior Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity as part of briefing regulations, said Thursday that Hamas's rockets will reach deeper into Israel in coming months.

"We think that until the end of this year, they (Hamas terrorists) will reach a range of 20 kilometers with Kassams, not with military-issue rockets," he said.
Hamas currently has an inventory of hundreds of Kassams, he said.

The official said Hamas's military wing in Gaza has a budget of up to $30 million a year, including weapons production, salaries and preparing attacks on Israel. He said up to one-third of the money comes from Iran, and the rest from donations and other sources.

The official said Hamas is manufacturing not only rockets, but also explosive devices and bullets, describing the enterprise as a "military industry, not very advanced, but existing."

donderdag 28 februari 2008

Israëlische rechtbank legt teruggave land aan Palestijnen op

Volgens een recent Israëlisch rapport zou eenderde van de Joodse nederzettingen op de Westoever (met enkele tienduizenden bewoners) gebouwd zijn op land dat voorheen Palestijns privébezit was en aanvankelijk op militair bevel (vanwege veiligheidsredenen) tijdelijk was geconfisceerd. Dat speelde zich vooral eind jaren '70 en begin jaren '80 af. Onderstaande geval is van recentere datum: kolonisten uit de nederzetting Shaarei Tikva hadden Palestijnse privégrond ingepikt voor een manege, nadat de bouw van de afscheidingsbarriere het land voor de familie al moeilijk bereikbaar had gemaakt. Het is dan ook nog maar de vraag of deze overwinning voor de Palestijnen als precedent kan gaan gelden voor de grotere confiscaties van destijds.

Wouter

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Last update - 02:40 25/02/2008

In rare ruling, court orders settlers off Arab family's land

By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/957538.html

Atef Ahmad, from the village of Saniriya, east of Qalqilyah, admits that when he turned to the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court to request that settlers be removed from his family's property, he did not really think anything would come of it.

His neighbors told him it was a waste of time. His elderly mother wanted nothing to do with the Jews. In the end, nine family members agreed to the requests of human rights activists working for Yesh Din, and took a chance. They provided attorney Michael Sfard with power of attorney and forgot about the whole matter.

Ten days ago, Magistrate's Court Judge Irit Cohen confirmed that the 11 residents of the Shaarei Tikva settlement had agreed to leave the property of their own will. After failing to convince the court, which rejected their claims that Atef's father had sold the property when Atef was merely 6 years old, the settlers gave up.

"We did not believe in the Israeli legal system," Atef, 41, says in fluent Hebrew. He works at the Keter factory in the Barkan industrial zone. "Now I tell every Palestinian whose land was taken from him not to be afraid, and to go to Israeli court. There are honest Israelis, and you can find justice."

But Sfard is not as enthusiastic. He says he cannot recall a similar case in recent years, where Palestinians succeeded in having settlers ordered off their property by the courts.

The attorney says Palestinians are usually deterred by their ignorance, lack of resourcefulness, and lack of trust in the Israeli justice system.

Had Yesh Din not insisted, the Ahmad family also would have simply let it go.

The family's troubles came in bursts. Initially there was the separation fence, which kept them from their 30-dunam olive grove, which sat between the new fence and Shaarei Tikva. In order to get to their land, they had to ask the settlement's security officer to open the gate. If he wanted to, he did. If not, he went to lunch.

A short while later came the horse ranch. Youth from the settlement took over a dunam of the family's land, set up a corral and rode horses there.

The Ahmad family turned to the police and asked for assistance. As is common, the police tried to mediate, asked to see ownership documents, and then asked for more permits.

A month passed, and then a year, and the Ahmad family decided to give up. They were worried that if they "caused trouble," the settlers would make it even more difficult for them to access the olive grove.

Fifteen months after turning to the courts, an agreement was reached whereby the settlers would surrender the land by February 1, 2009, and would pay $100 per day of delay.

Over the 11 months until the land is restored to its owners, the settlers have also promised to allow the Ahmad family unfettered access to its olive grove

VN: vredesproces Midden-Oosten heeft veranderingen op de grond nodig om te slagen

Naast de gebruikelijke veroordeling van de bezetting en nederzettingen, en de oproep aan Israël om de grenzen open te stellen, riepen de Verenigde Naties gisteren ook Hamas op om het afvuren van raketten te staken. Dit is zoiets als een crimineel te vragen om zich voortaan aan de wet te houden: nogal zinloos. Hij weet immers dondersgoed dat hij de wet heeft overtreden, en dit is een welbewuste keuze geweest. Hamas weet dat het tegen het internationaal recht is raketten af te vuren, soldaten te ontvoeren en aanslagen te plegen. Volgens het handvest van Hamas is het internationale recht en de VN een uitvinding van de Joden om wereldmacht te verkrijgen.

Begrijp me niet verkeerd: het is al heel wat dat de VN ook aandacht hebben voor de raketten en de gevolgen voor Israëlische burgers. Wat de VN er nooit bij vertelt, is wat te doen als Hamas niet naar hun aanmaningen luistert. Israël moet de grenzen open stellen, zodat nog makkelijker wapens gesmokkeld en aanslagen gepleegd kunnen worden, en er moet een tweestatenoplossing komen overeenkomstig het internationaal recht. Iets waar Hamas tegen is, zoals het niet nalaat te vertellen.

Zolang toch vooral aan Israël eisen worden gesteld, en grote woorden als 'collectief straffen' worden gebruikt, voelt Hamas geen noodzaak haar 'beleid' aan te passen. Pas wanneer duidelijk wordt dat de internationale gemeenschap Israël steunt in harde acties tegen de raketten, zal Hamas zich wellicht bedenken.

Ratna

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Middle East peace process needs changes on the ground to succeed – UN envoy
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25767&Cr=palestin&Cr1=

26 February 2008 – The Annapolis peace process deserves continued support but it will only be sustained if there are real changes on the ground, particularly in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, the senior United Nations envoy on the Middle East told the Security Council today.

Robert H. Serry, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told a Council meeting that "ordinary people understandably have little confidence that the political process is delivering," whether they live in the occupied Palestinian territory or in southern Israel.

"In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the imposing presence of the barrier, the expanding settlements, the unremoved outposts, the system of closure and constant military incursions have grave implications for the human rights, economic life and social fabric of the entire population," he said.

"In Gaza, the deprivations of basic human dignity are even more acute, and the sense of abandonment and frustration is palpable."

Mr. Serry added that "in southern Israel, communities who believed Israel's disengagement from Gaza would bring security face daily rocket attacks, while Israelis generally continue to believe that they must primarily rely on Israeli security measures for their safety."

The Special Coordinator stressed that he was especially alarmed by the number of incidents on both sides of the conflict where children were being killed or injured.

He urged all parties to abide by international law and to cooperate closely with the members of the international diplomatic Quartet – the UN, the European Union, Russia and the United States – as well as regional countries and members of the Security Council to implement the Road Map.

"The goal must be an end to the occupation that began in 1967 and the coexistence in peace and security of the State of Israel and the State of Palestine, a comprehensive regional peace, in fulfilment of resolutions 242, 338, 1397 and 1515, and the Arab Peace Initiative."

Also addressing the Council meeting, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said his recent visit to the region showed him that conditions for the inhabitants of Gaza, which has recently faced tight Israeli restrictions along its borders, were "grim and miserable, and far from 'normal'."

"Eight months of severe restrictions on the movement of goods and people entering and leaving the territory, following the Hamas takeover in June 2007, have taken a heavy economic and social toll, coming on top of years of difficulty and economic decline," Mr. Holmes said.

Describing the consequences as "increasingly severe and visible," the Emergency Relief Coordinator added that the closures have brought most industry and agriculture to collapse, raised unemployment and poverty to new heights and led to the deterioration of basic infrastructure.

During his visit to Sderot, the southern Israeli town that is the main target of Qassam rocket attacks from Palestinian militants in Gaza, Mr. Holmes witnessed "the physical and psychological damage to the population… from this constant barrage."

He urged Hamas to act immediately to stop the rocket, saying their continued firing was unjustified, clearly constituted terrorism, and must be halted unconditionally.

"However, I also made clear publicly and privately my view that, whatever the provocation and illegality of the rockets, the effective Israeli isolation of Gaza is not justified, given Israel's continuing obligations to the people of Gaza. It amounts to collective punishment and is contrary to international humanitarian law."

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30-jarige Israëliër gedood bij Qassam raketregen op Sderot

Het is eigenlijk nog een wonder dat niet meer mensen zijn omgekomen. Een raket kwam vlakbij een ziekenhuis terecht. Het feit, dat verschillende raketten in Ashkelon terecht kwamen, is slecht nieuws. Normaal gesproken komen de raketten niet zo ver.

Ratna

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Last update - 18:26 27/02/2008

Israeli killed in massive Qassam barrage on Negev By News Agencies

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/958695.html

At least one person was killed, several were wounded and many were treated for shock Wednesday as least 30 Qassam rockets slammed into the western Negev town of Sderot and surrounding communities.

The 30-year-old student killed in the strike was apparently in a car, parked next to Sapir College on the outskirts of Sderot, which was hit by a Qassam. He suffered lethal shrapnel wounds to the chest.

The rocket barrage occurred hours after an Israel Air Force strike killed five Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip who were apparently planning a large scale terrorist attack against Israel after having been trained in Iran. The Shin Bet security service ventured a guess that the severity of the rocket attack against Israel Wednesday afternoon reflected the central role the dead Hamas men had played in the organization.

Palestinian officials said two more people, including a civilian, were killed in a second IAF airstrike carried out immediately after the Qassam attack against Sderot.

One of the Qassam rockets directly hit a home in Sderot, while another exploded in a factory mess hall shortly after the workers had exited.

Several people suffered shrapnel wounds in the attack, and seven people suffering light injuries and shock were evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

Later, a Qassam rocket exploded near the Ashkelon hospital and several more people suffered from shock. Four rockets struck various sites in Ashkelon.

Hamas' military wing claimed responsiblity for firing the Qassams.

Israel frequently carries out airstrikes and brief ground incursions in Gaza to halt the rocket attacks, and it appeared likely that the deadly rocket barrage would draw a new Israeli reprisal.

Earlier Wednesday, at least six Palestinian militants, most from the extremist Hamas movement, were killed in operations by the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In southern Gaza, an Israel Air Force air strike destroyed a minivan carrying Hamas members, killing five. Hamas said that the dead included a senior engineer involved in the production of the Qassam rockets fired at southern Israel from Gaza on a daily basis, as well the commander of a local rocket-launching squad.

Two other Hamas members were wounded in the airstrike, according to Hamas and Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry.

Minutes after the first explosion, an IAF missile struck another car nearby. Witnesses said the militants in the car had abandoned the vehicle for the white minivan shortly before the strike. There were no casualties in the second attack.

The IDF confirmed the strikes, which it said targeted vehicles transporting militants. Israel is targeting Palestinians responsible for the daily Qassam barrages.

Local residents who knew the men said some of them had undergone training in Syria or Iran and returned home after Hamas breached the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt in defiance of an Israeli blockade of the territory of 1.5 million people.

Abu Ubaida, spokesman of Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, denied they had traveled outside the Gaza Strip.

Also Wednesday, IDF elite troops operating in the center of the West Bank city of Nablus killed one Palestinian and wounded three others.

The IDF said that the commando patrol spotted a group of five men, one carrying a pistol. The group fled after they were asked to stop by the troops, who then opened fire. Four of the men were wounded, including the man who later died in an Israeli hospital. Another of the group was said to be in critical condition.

In the early hours of Wednesday, a gunman from Islamic Jihad was killed during clashes with IDF troops in central Gaza, the militant organization said. The man's body was taken to hospital in Gaza on Wednesday morning.

The IDF said a militant approached the Gaza-Israel border fence late Tuesday and that soldiers had seen an explosion, likely caused by explosives the militant was carrying.

woensdag 27 februari 2008

Arabische Liga dreigt met intrekken Saoedisch vredesplan

Hoe doe je alsof je voor vrede bent zonder daadwerkelijk vrede te hoeven sluiten? Je lanceert een plan dat als openingszet best aardig is, wordt vervolgens vreselijk kwaad als de andere partij het inderdaad als niet meer dan een openingszet beschouwt en er een en ander aan wil veranderen, en dreigt vervolgens het plan in te trekken als men het niet alsnog ongewijzigd overneemt. Tot slot uit je je grote spijt over deze gemiste kans.

The head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, said the Arabs extended the hand of peace to Israel with the peace proposal but now face unprecedented Israeli obstinacy.

Obstinacy = Israël capituleert niet, maar komt met eigen voorstellen en voorwaarden om tot vrede te komen.

"The key to solving the Arab-Israeli issue is to hold serious negotiations, not fictitious ones," he said.

Dat laatste is helemaal waar, maar dan moet er wel nog wat te onderhandelen zijn. Als je het al eens bent hoef je niet meer te onderhandelen; dan volstaan wat technische besprekingen over de precieze uitwerking van een en ander.

Het vreemde is dat de Arabische Liga, die toch min of meer de partij die heeft verloren vertegenwoordigt, zich het air van een overwinnaar aanmeet die de ander zijn voorwaarden op kan leggen.

Ratna
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Last update - 11:26 23/02/2008

Arab states threaten to rescind 2002 Saudi peace initiative

By The Associated Press
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/957101.html

CAIRO, Egypt - Arab officials are warning they could withdraw their landmark offer of peace and full ties with Israel in exchange for a return of Arab lands, unless Israel explicitly accepts the initiative.

The warnings reflect increasing Arab impatience with the long-stalled peace process with Israel. Peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have bogged down since they were relaunched at the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis peace conference last November after a seven-year hiatus.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal - whose country sponsored the Arab peace initiative, adopted by Arab nations in 2002 - warned Thursday that despair would force us to review these options, including withdrawing the proposal.

He accused Israel of sabotaging the initiative, which is now facing grave danger.

The Arab plan offers Israel full recognition by the Arabs and peace, in return for complete withdrawal from the lands Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War, as well as the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. It also calls for Palestinian refugees' right of return to their homes in Israel to be addressed.

Israel initially rejected the plan. Last year, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert praised the plan as showing a positive approach and said it would be taken into account in the peace process. But he stopped short of accepting it and rejected its call on refugees. Israel has also rejected the full withdrawal called for in the plan, hoping to hang on to several settlement blocs in the West Bank and to keep much of east Jerusalem, with its holy sites.

Arab leaders are planning to hold a summit in March in the Syrian capital, Damascus, at which they are expected to reiterate their adherence to the peace plan. But ahead of the gathering, they have stepped up their warnings it could be rescinded.

The head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, said the Arabs extended the hand of peace to Israel with the peace proposal but now face unprecedented Israeli obstinacy.

"The key to solving the Arab-Israeli issue is to hold serious negotiations, not fictitious ones," he said.

Moussa's deputy at the League, Mohammed Sobeih, accused Israel of putting the sole political initiative on the table at risk. "If Israel makes it fail, they [Arabs] have to search for other options," Sobeih told reporters on Friday.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been marred by ongoing Israeli construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas the Palestinians want for their future state, as well as by the near-daily rocket barrages into Israel from the militant Hamas rulers of Gaza and Israel's blockade of the coastal strip.

The struggling talks have thrown into doubt hopes expressed by all sides at Annapolis that a final settlement could be reached by December 2008.

Arab countries, including Syria, participated in the Annapolis gathering, hoping that it meant a strong U.S. commitment to push forward negotiations -and American pressure on Israel to make concessions. In recent weeks, several Arab leaders have expressed frustration with the talks.

Saud, whose country is a close U.S. ally, blamed Israel during a gathering of South American-Arab foreign ministers in Argentina on Thursday.

"It's unbelievable that we keep blaming the weak party in the equation, which is the Palestinian people, with all the suffering they live under, while ignoring what Israel does by expanding settlements, tightening the siege, humiliating the Palestinians and carrying out a mass punishment against them," al-Faisal said.

Egypt in particular fears a failure of the Palestinian-Israeli talks, worried this may boost the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and could eventually saddle Egypt with the responsibility for the Mediterranean area.

Egypt faced a tough test last month when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, blockaded in Gaza, streamed into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula after Hamas blew holes in the border wall.

The breach ended Israel's tight blockade of the coastal strip, imposed a week earlier in response to a spike in rocket attacks on Israeli border towns. Egyptian troops resealed the border 12 days later.

Conclusies van bloedbad Beit Hanoun in november 2006

De inslag van een Israëlisch projectiel in twee woonhuizen in Beit Hanoun in de Gazastrook, leidde eind 2006 tot 21 Palestijnse burgerdoden, waaronder veel vrouwen en kinderen. Het leidde tot grote krantekoppen wereldwijd over dit bloedbad, met foto's van een bloeddoordrenkte steeg, en ook tot internationale veroordelingen van Israël, waarbij de VN niet te beroerd was er een resolutie over aan te nemen.

Israël sprak haar spijt uit over deze tragedie en stelde een onderzoek in, waarvan hieronder eindelijk het resultaat vermeld wordt. Uiteraard was het geen opzettelijke massamoord, maar een technisch falen, en was het projectiel bestemd voor de terroristen die de voorgaande dag Qassam raketten op Israël hadden afgevuurd. Welke maatregelen er precies zijn genomen om herhaling te voorkomen wordt niet vermeld.

Wat mij bijstaat van de berichtgeving in de Nederlandse kranten, is dat op dezelfde dag 45 Tamils in een vluchtelingenkamp op Sri Lanka omkwamen door raketbeschietingen van het Sri Lankaanse leger. Dat was een kort berichtje op pagina 4, zonder foto. Daar kwamen geen boze brieven over, geen regering sprak haar afschuw uit, en de VN zweeg in 192 talen...

Wouter

___________________________

February 26th, 2008

IDF SPOKESPERSON'S ANNOUNCEMENT

Military Advocate General Concludes his Investigation on Matter of IDF Shell Injuring Palestinian Civilians in Beit Hanun in November 2006

On November 8th, 2006, an IDF shell hit two buildings in the town of Beit Hanun, killing 21 Palestinian civilians and injuring additional others. As a result, former Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, appointed a committee, led by former Deputy Head of the Ground Forces Command, Maj. Gen. Meir Califfee, to investigate the circumstances of the incident. Following an extensive and thorough investigation, the Military Advocate General, Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendlblit, decided that the facts regarding the incident, presented by the committee, were detailed and clear, and that consequently there was no need to open a Military Police investigation on the matter. It was also decided that no legal action is to be taken against any military official regarding this incident.

The decision to fire artillery at launching sites in the area near Beit Hanun, from which Qassam rockets were fired at Israel previously, was carried out following credible and specific intelligence information, indicating the intention of the terrorist organizations to fire rockets from this area. The fire, aimed at one of the targets located over 450 meters away from the town's borders, in fact hit two residential buildings and caused the death and injury of the Palestinians.

The investigation shows clearly that the injury of the Palestinian civilians was not intentional and was directly due to a rare and severe failure in the artillery fire control system operated at the time of the incident. This failure caused incorrect range-findings that lead, unknowingly, to fire at a different target then planned initially. This failure was discovered in an inquiry conducted following the incident, which showed that the failure was indeed an extremely rare malfunction that even the designated technicians of the control system had not encountered in the past. In light of these findings, it is not possible to point to a legal circumstantial connection, between the behaviors of the people involved in the incident and the result of the incident.

In light of all the circumstances, the Military Advocate General concluded that the behavior of the people involved in the incident was not substantially or severely negligent in a manner that would justify taking legal actions against them.

Following the incident, the most high ranking commanders and professionals formed lessons and conclusions in order to prevent such an event from recurring in the future. These conclusions have been implemented in the combat field since.

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

dinsdag 26 februari 2008

Vluchtelingen Darfoer krijgen Israëlische verblijfsvergunning

Hoewel de staat ze niet met open armen heeft ontvangen, staat het Israëlische publiek sympathiek tegenover het opvangen van vluchtelingen uit Darfur, en heeft onder meer Olmerts vrouw zich voor hen ingezet. Een groep van 600 vluchtelingen heeft nu een tijdelijke verblijfsvergunning gekregen. In augustus al had de regering 500 Darfuri's toegelaten.

Terwijl de Nederlandse discussie over het al dan niet boycotten van de Olympische Spelen in Beijing vooral focust op de mensenrechten in China zelf, ijvert de Amerikaanse Save Darfur Coalition vooral voor het uitoefenen van druk op China omdat deze de regering van Soedan (een belangrijke olieleverancier) de hand boven het hoofd houdt in de VN Veiligheidsraad.

Ratna & Wouter
------------------------

Darfuris get Israeli ID cards
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/2008022020080218darfurisrael.html

JTA - Published: 02/20/2008

As hundreds of Darfuri refugees in Israel get temporary residency status and Israeli ID cards, they are beginning to set up for a long future in the Jewish state.

Dina Kraft

TEL AVIV (JTA) -- Yassin Musa, a refugee from Darfur, removes his Israeli identity card from his worn leather wallet and holds it like a prize.

Musa is one of more than 600 Sudanese refugees from Darfur who have been granted temporary residency in Israel. He and his fellow Sudanese fled the genocide in Sudan and passed through Egypt on their way to the Jewish state.

Their new status here constitutes a major victory for the small Darfuri community in Israel and the non-governmental organizations that have been lobbying for them.

"I've now started to feel both Israeli and Darfuri," said Musa, 30, who fled Darfur five years ago after his village was attacked by the Janjaweed, Arab militiamen who have killed an estimated 200,000 people in Darfur over the last few years.

During the attack, Musa fled to nearby mountains but was tracked down by the fighters. He was arrested, beaten and eventually released, but the Janjaweed shot his father, brother and a cousin to death.

The Darfuris' path to receiving Israeli temporary residency status -- the first were granted last month -- has not been easy. Most refugees first spent months in prison for entering Israeli illegally and then were released under house arrest to work mostly on kibbutzim, in small towns or at hotels in the Israeli resort city of Eilat.

Now they are newly free and are official residents of the Jewish state, thanks in large part to intense lobbying by NGOs, Knesset members, figures like Elie Wiesel and even Aliza Olmert, the prime minister's wife.

The Darfuris already have launched a networking and social welfare organization to help each other find work and places to live. They have also established a soccer league and even started a music group.

Musa, who was an architect in Darfur and hopes to continue in his profession in Israel, is the head of the new group, called the Sons of Darfur.

For now, the group is based in the one-room library of Hotline for Migrant Workers, one of the NGOs most instrumental in assisting them, a group that is funded by the New Israel Fund and others. The Sons of Darfur hope soon to find their own space where they can hold workshops, computer classes and meetings. For that, Musa says, they need to raise funds.

The Darfuris in Israel are mostly men, though there are women and children among them. Some are educated, having studied and worked in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, and speak decent English. Others are uneducated farmers from small villages who were never far from home until they were chased out by the Janjaweed.

More than 50 of the refugees already are enrolled in ulpan Hebrew language classes in Tel Aviv, and the children are in Israeli schools in different parts of the country.

Though many Darfuris come to Tel Aviv, the government is considering sending them and migrants from other African countries to the country's more rural North and South, where the government says there are more jobs suited to them. Many African immigrants already work in the hotel industry in Israel's southernmost city, Eilat.

In Tel Aviv, the Darfuris help each other out, offering to share small apartments with newcomers until they find work and can pay their own rent . They often work nights, in restaurant kitchens or as cleaners. They share work leads and on the weekends gather to play traditional Darfuri music.

Musa has received a scholarship at a local college to study an architecture software program that is the basis for most architectural work in Israel. He says his goal is to return to Darfur one day and rebuild the villages destroyed by the Janjaweed.

But he says he wants to do it in a "smart" way: to use better materials and more modern structures that would withstand possible future attacks and generally be more functional.

At his apartment at night, Musa sketches drawings of these homes and buildings.

"All the time I am thinking about rebuilding Darfur," Musa told JTA. "Villages there still look as they did hundreds of years ago. I think when there is peace we need to sit together and think about how to rebuild the region."

Musa says he and other refugees here are also thinking about ways to bring Israeli refugee relief to Darfur -- both to deliver aid to home and to boost Israel's reputation in Sudan, a Muslim country. He says he's discussed the subject with Aliza Olmert, who has become an advocate on behalf of the refugees.

Like many Darfur refugees, Musa describes the difficult conditions and treatment in Egypt, where the refugees spent time before reaching Israel.

Once in Israel, he said, the refugees, though they were housed in a prison, were kept together in relatively good conditions in sections of the prison normally reserved for foreign workers awaiting deportation.

Musa said he has been moved by the response of the Israeli public to the plight of the Darfuris.

"Here there are really amazing people," he said. "If I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes it would be difficult to believe it."

Hamas TV konijn Assud roept op tot boycot Denemarken wegens Mohammed cartoons

De 'Pioneers of Tomorrow' show is altijd goed voor "leuke" quotes, die laten zien dat Hamas de kinderen van Palestina een mooie vreedzame toekomst gunt, oeps, ik bedoel, die laten zien dat Hamas de Palestijnse kinderziel al jong verpest en volstopt met haat en anti-westerse en antisemitische propaganda. Wat te denken van het volgende:

"Allah Willing, the Soldiers of 'The Pioneers of Tomorrow' Will Redeem the Prophet Muhammad with All That They Possess – Even with Their Blood"..."We Will Kill Them

Allah willing, we will regain the cities under Zionist occupation, such as Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Ashdod, the village of Hoj, and all the Palestinian cities.

Allah Willing, There Are Thousands of Soldiers of the 'Pioneers of Tomorrow'"

Daar wordt je dus niet vrolijk van, en eenieder die de Palestijnen een betere toekomst toewenst, zou hier geshockeerd door moeten zijn.

Wat ik mij serieus afvraag is, hoe leuk kinderen dit programma vinden. Is kinderen hiernaar dwingen te kijken geen kindermishandeling? Wat te denken van het volgende:

"Yes, those criminals... You mock our Prophet Muhammad, but look, my beloved Prophet Muhammad, how Allah responded to them: 'Allah shall pay them back for their mockery, and He leaves them alone in their excess, blindly wandering on.' My beloved Messenger of Allah, they mocked you with their drawings, because they do not know the mercy in your heart. My beloved Muhammad, if they had known the mercy in your heart, they would not have done this to you. Allah knows that we love you, and that we will redeem you with our souls, our blood, and our hearts."

"It's because the West has seen that we've moved away from the religion of Allah, and from the Sunna of our Prophet Muhammad. They have also seen that we have forsaken the religion of Allah, and therefore, they could affront the Prophet, because... We have done nothing to redeem the Prophet Muhammad.

Ik bedoel, dat is toch gewoon doodsaai? Een van de irritantste dingen aan preken vond ik als kind dat eindeloze gehamer op hoe groot en machtig God wel niet is, en hoe eindeloos hij geprezen moest worden voor zaken waarvan het mij helemaal niet duidelijk was dat hij ze had verricht of dat ze zo geweldig waren. Vragen op dat gebied werden vaak niet op prijs gesteld. Zouden de kindertjes in Gaza niet liever met elkaar stoeien of met speelgoedpistolen spelen of naar tekenfilms kijken dan dit soort lange dialogen over hoe slecht het Westen is en hoe groot Allah te beluisteren?

Hoeveel kinderen kijken er eigenlijk naar dit programma, en van welke leeftijd, worden dit soort onderdelen afgewisseld met andere of is het hele programma zo? Ik deel de verontwaardiging van Memri en PMW over deze walgelijke propaganda, maar zou het waarderen als ze ook dat soort informatie zouden vermelden.

Ratna

-----------------

MEMRI - Special Dispatch | No. 1852 | February 26, 2008

Palestinians

Hamas Children TV Bunny Assud Urges Boycott of Danish Goods, Threatens to Kill Danes over Muhammad Cartoons

In the February 22, 2008 episode of the Hamas children's show "The Pioneers of Tomorrow," on Al-Aqsa TV, program host Saraa Barhoum and bunny character Assud urge viewers to boycott Danish products and to avenge the insult of the Muhammad cartoons reprinted by Danish newspapers. They also express their hope that "all the borders will be opened" between Arab countries, and discuss their own "martyrdom."

To view this clip visit:
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1693.htm.

To view more MEMRI TV clips from Al-Aqsa TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/content/en/tv_channel_indiv.htm?id=175

"Are You Boycotting Israeli and Danish Products?"

Child host Saraa Barhoum: "Amani, you've seen the kind of attack that the West launched against the Prophet Muhammad. What do you have to say on behalf of the Prophet Muhammad?"

Amani, by phone: "In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate, I say to those cowardly infidels..."

Assud the Bunny : "Those criminals..."

Amani: "Yes, those criminals... You mock our Prophet Muhammad, but look, my beloved Prophet Muhammad, how Allah responded to them: 'Allah shall pay them back for their mockery, and He leaves them alone in their excess, blindly wandering on.' My beloved Messenger of Allah, they mocked you with their drawings, because they do not know the mercy in your heart. My beloved Muhammad, if they had known the mercy in your heart, they would not have done this to you. Allah knows that we love you, and that we will redeem you with our souls, our blood, and our hearts."

[...]

Assud: "Are you boycotting Israeli and Danish products?"

Amani: "Yes, Assud. I am."

Assud: "You've stopped eating them altogether?"

Amani: "I have."

Assud: "That's great. Keep it up."

Saraa: "All of us will definitely boycott Danish products, and even before that, we will boycott Israeli products, Amani."

"Because the Arabs and Muslims Keep Silent, [The Danes] Humiliated Them"

Amani: "With your permission, I'd like to continue."

Assud and Saraa : "Go ahead."

Amani: "Finally, I'd like to apologize to the Messenger of Allah. May Allah curse these infidels, who have gone astray. We the soldiers of the pioneers of tomorrow, apologize to you, beloved Messenger of Allah. Denmark has spoken heresy, but you are a source of pride and mercy for Islam and the Muslims."

Assud: "The [American] cowboys have spoken heresy as well."

[...]

Amani: "Our brothers, the Americans, have affronted the Prophet Muhammad..."

Assud: "They are not our brothers, they are criminals."

Amani: "What?"

Assud: "They are infidels, not our brothers."

Amani: "They are enemies of Allah, and they have affronted the Prophet Muhammad."

[...]

Saraa: "How did these Danes have the audacity to affront the Messenger of Allah? Do you have an answer to that, Assud?"

Assud: "No, I don't. Maybe because the Arabs and Muslims keep silent, [the Danes] humiliated them and did these things to them."

"Allah Willing, the Soldiers of 'The Pioneers of Tomorrow' Will Redeem the Prophet Muhammad with All That They Possess – Even with Their Blood"..."We Will Kill Them"

Saraa: "That's one reason, but there is an even more important reason, Assud."

Assud: "I have no idea."

Saraa: "It's because the West has seen that we've moved away from the religion of Allah, and from the Sunna of our Prophet Muhammad. They have also seen that we have forsaken the religion of Allah, and therefore, they could affront the Prophet, because... We have done nothing to redeem the Prophet Muhammad. But I say to them: You haven't seen anything yet. Allah willing, the soldiers of the 'Pioneers of Tomorrow' will redeem the Prophet Muhammad with all that they possess, and even with their blood, Assud. They will not allow them to do this again."

Assud: "If they do it again, Saraa, we will kill them, right?"

Saraa: "Allah willing."

Assud: "I will bite them and eat them up."

Saraa: "Yes.

[...]

"Assud, we are not terrorists. All we want is to get our beloved homeland, Palestine, back. We want all of Palestine to be ours. We are not terrorists..."

Assud: "Because it was ours to begin with, right?"

Saraa: "Right. They say we are terrorists merely because we want this, but of course, we're not terrorists..."

Assud: "They are the terrorists."

"I Want Us to Take Jaffa, Acre, Haifa, and All of Palestine, Allah Willing, and Then We'll Go to Iraq... All The Borders Will Be Opened"

Saraa: "Yes, Assud. Allah willing, we will regain the cities under Zionist occupation, such as Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Ashdod, the village of Hoj, and all the Palestinian cities."

Assud: "Saraa, do you know what I'm hoping for? I want us to take Jaffe, Acre, Haifa, and all of Palestine, Allah willing, and then we'll go to Iraq. All the borders will be opened. Between Egypt and us, there will be no barriers, and the same goes for Jordan and Saudi Arabia. We'll come and go by car. I hope this comes true. Do you think this will come true?"

Saraa: "Allah willing, this will come true soon."

"When I Am Martyred, a Tiger Will Take My Place"

Assud: "Allah willing, when I am martyred, a tiger will take my place... Allah willing, I will be the one to fix things, and there won't be any tiger. The "Pioneers of Tomorrow" and I will make this dream come true. [...]

"Allah Willing, There Are Thousands of Soldiers of the 'Pioneers of Tomorrow'"

Assud: "Who will host this show if you are martyred? Will 100,000 Saraas take your place?"

Saraa: "Allah willing, Assud."

Assud: "We'll take them from among the 'Pioneers of Tomorrow,' Allah willing."

Saraa: "Allah willing, there are thousands of soldiers of the 'Pioneers of Tomorrow.'"

Assud: "Martyrdom for the sake of Allah is what we hope for, right?"

Saraa: "Right, Assud."

[...]

Saraa: "What do you have to say to the cartoonist who started all this, and affronted the Prophet by drawing him?"

Assud: "He's a criminal..."

Saraa: "Yes, a criminal."

Tasnim, by phone : "I say to him, and to all of them, that no matter how much they try to hide him, we will manage to kill him, to assassinate him."

Assud: "Allah willing."

Saraa: "I pray that Allah makes the earth swallow him up, so that he serves as a lesson to others like him, Tasnim.

[...]

"Assud, it appears that our show is coming to an end. What do you have to say to this criminal, the cartoonist who affronted the Prophet by drawing him?"

Assud: "I say to him what you already said: You criminal, you lowlife, you scum of the earth – right, Saraa? Allah willing, the day will come when you will regret what you did."

IDF doodt burgers of verzetsstrijders van Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades?

Volgens het PLO persbureau heeft Israël maandagmorgen vier burgers gedood in de Gazastrook, maar zelfs Hamas is zo eerlijk om toe te geven dat de slachtoffers strijders waren (zie tweede bericht), geen onschuldige burgers. Maar Hamas vindt het waarschijnlijk ook erger dat 'verzetsstrijders' worden gedood dan laffe burgers....

Ratna

-------------

1. PLO news agency: "citizens killed"

4 Citizens Killed, Dozens Wounded by IOF in Gaza Strip
www .wafa.ps/english/body.asp?id=11211

GAZA, February 25, 2008, (WAFA - PLO news agency) - Four citizens were killed and dozens wounded early Monday by Israeli Occupation Forces IOF in different areas in Gaza Strip.

In Khan Younis, medics declared that two citizens were slain when IOF raided a group of citizens eastern Khan Younis city, southern Gaza Strip.

In al-Shijaeya neighborhood, eastern Gaza Strip, medics said that a citizens was killed and three others wounded when Israeli warplanes raided a group of citizens in the neighborhood.

In Rafah, security sources said that a dead body was found. A citizen was killed by Israeli troops eastern the city, southern Gaza Strip.

They added that the dead body of the citizen; Medhat Awwad 20, was found between the trees after the IOF rolled back from al-Jaradat area of the city.

------------------------------------

2. Hamas - 3 of its best armed me killed

Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades
The armed branch of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

Information Office
February 25th, 2007
www .alqassam.ps/english/?action=showsta&sid=982

Military Communique
Al Qassam Brigades mourns three members in Gaza and Khanyounis

As Al Aqsa intifada against the occupation assault on the Gaza Strip continues, Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades has its best men to be in the playground of death to defend their people from any attack by the enemy..
Today , Al-Qassam Brigades mourns the death of the mujahideen:

Name - Area
Thayer Ibrahim Misbeh-22 years Khanyounis
Hani Abed Al Ra'ouf Salah-19 years Khanyounis

The mujahideen were martyred after the Zionist drones fired number of missiles at them when they were guarding Khuza'a village east of Khanyounis city from the Zionist special forces.

Name - Area
Husam Jaber Abu Hein-21 years Shojaiea

The mujahid was martyred after the Zionist drones fired number of missiles at them when they were guarding Shojaiea neighborhood east of Gaza city from the Zionist special forces.

Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades mourns the death of the mujahideen, reaffirms the commitment and determination to continue the resistance against the belligerent occupation forces.

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

Jongetje gewond door Qassam bij school Sderot

Als de Qassam raket honderd meter verderop was neergekomen, waren er niet één zwaargewonde maar tientallen doden geweest. In tegenstelling tot Israël, is dit ook precies wat Hamas en Islamitische Jihad willen: zoveel mogelijk burgers treffen en liefst doden. Je wilt er niet aan denken wat er zou gebeuren als Hamas en I.J. erin zouden slagen fatsoenlijke raketten te bouwen waarmee je goed kunt richten, die een groter bereik hebben en krachtiger explosies veroorzaken. Toch is dat hoogstwaarschijnlijk het resultaat als Israël onder de toenemende internationale druk de (gedeeltelijke) blokkade van de Gazastrook zal opheffen.

Ratna

------------

Qassam lands near Sderot school; child seriously injured

(Video) Ten-year-old boy sustains serious injuries to his arm during rocket attack on western Negev town; total of five Qassams fired toward Israeli territory from Gaza since morning hours

Shmulik Hadad - YNET

Latest Update: 02.25.08, 16:50

For video: www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3511004,00.html

A 10-year-old boy sustained serious injuries to his arm Monday when a Qassam fired by Palestinians in north Gaza landed near a school in Sderot.

The Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attack.

Paramedics dispatched to the scene managed to stop the bleeding and evacuate the boy to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. A number of other residents were treated for shock.

The parents of 10-year-old Yossi Haimov of Sderot received good news on Monday afternoon, after the hospital's deputy director-general, Dr. Ron Lobel, informed them that the doctors had managed to save their son's arm which was badly injured in the rocket attack.

Dr. Lobel updated the parents that the injury to Yossi's arm was very bad and caused damage to the tissues and nerves in the area.

"The surgery is not over, but as it seems at the moment, his arm was not damaged and he will be able to continue using it. He is still in the operation room," he said.

Yossi Haimov returned from school on Monday afternoon together with his eight-year-old sister, Maria. Maria later said that after returning from school, she and her brother left their bags in the house and went to visit a friend and later went out to the backyard.

"We heard the Color Red (alert system), quickly ran and hid, there was a small 'boom', and then when we came out there was once against a strong explosion. We hid near the wall and then the shrapnel hit Yossi in the shoulder and his entire shoulder was filled with blood," she said.

'Yossi didn't cry, but he said it hurts'

"We both quickly ran to a grocery store, screaming. The grocery store owner quickly called for an ambulance and they took Yossi to the hospital," Maria said.

Passerby called the children's mother, who rushed to the place from her office.

The sister continued to describe the moments of horror, "Yossi didn't cry, he only kept telling me that it hurts. I don't remember much from the injury. All I remember is that there was a lot of smoke, and when I saw Yossi's shoulder with blood I could see that his entire sholder was broken."

The children's father, Tashkent Haimov, said that he was informed of his son's injury while at work.

"I understood from the neighbors that he managed to hide behind a wall, and only his arm stuck out a little and was hurt. We were really lucky that he did not sustain more serious injuries.

"This is not the first time rockets land near our house, and our house was damaged several times. We have been living in Sderot for many years. I work in this city, my family lives here, and with every day that passes I don't know how it will end and what will happen tomorrow. This is a situation we can't continue living with," Haimov concluded.

A total of three rockets were fired towards Israel since noon. One landed in the southern town's industrial zone, another landed in a grove near a school while the third hit a residential neighborhood.

During the attack a number of propane tanks exploded and damage was caused to several structures.

Earlier, two more Qassams were fired toward Israel. One landed in Gaza and the other landed in an open field south of Ashkelon.

The Police Southern District Commander, Maj. Gen. Uri Bar-Lev, and other senior police officers established a tactical headquarters in Sderot on Monday in wake of the human chain protest by Palestinians in Gaza.

Six-thousand five-hundred police officers and border police troops deployed along the fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel as well as around Gaza vicinity communities in order to aid IDF forces repel the demonstrators should they attempt to cross the border.

Ali Waked contributed to this report

First Published: 02.25.08, 14:09

maandag 25 februari 2008

Collectief straffen en Newspeak

Alom wordt beweerd dat Israëls (gedeeltelijke) blokkade van de Gazastrook een vorm van collectief straffen is en als zodanig een schending van het internationale recht. Een blik op de Vierde Geneefse Conventie laat zien dat dit pertinent onjuist is.

Met dank aan Israel News

Ratna

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Collective Punishment and Newspeak

American Thinker - February 24, 2008

By Michael I. Krauss

Activists and some UN Security Council members argue that Israel's restrictions on fuel deliveries to Gaza constitutes collective punishment in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The argument is nonsense.

On May 17, 1942, SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich was killed near the village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia by a bomb thrown by Free Czech agents trained in England. The killing of Heydrich, the commander ("Deputy Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia") of invading forces, was clearly legal under international law.

In response, the Gestapo and the SS killed over 1000 people suspected of being involved in the plot. In addition, 3000 Jews were deported from the ghetto at Terezin (Theresienstadt, created by Heydrich) for immediate extermination. In Berlin 152 Jews were ordered executed on the day of Heydrich's death. Finally, on June 10, 1942 Lidice was ordered destroyed. All 172 Czech men and boys over 16 were shot. 80 women were deported to Ravensbruch concentration camp, where almost all died. 90 young children who looked Aryan were distributed to German families, while others were shipped to Gneisenau concentration camp for extermination. The village itself was then razed and its name removed from German maps.

The massacre at Lidice, along with other Nazi atrocities such as the killing of the entire population (642) of Oradour-sur-Glane, France two years to the day after Lidice (to punish the village for Resistance activities) and the horrific massacres of Serbian civilians by SS Prinz Eugen division troops for supporting the resistance movements, continued a sad German tradition [in the First World War, Germans had executed Belgian villagers in mass retribution for resistance activity].

These atrocities were fresh in the minds of international diplomats after the end of the War. Article 33 of the Fourth (1949) Geneva Conventions enshrined collective punishment as a war crime, emphasizing individual responsibility:

Article 33. No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.

Article 52 of the Convention's Additional Protocol I (adopted in 1977) similarly states that "Civilian objects shall not be the object of attack or of reprisals."

The doctrine of collective punishment has died hard, despite the Fourth Convention's clear insistence on individual responsibility. Arab states expelled the majority of their Jewish populations in reprisal for Israel's successful self-defense in the War of Independence. Britain arguably used collective punishment against villages where Communist rebels had been concealed in Malaya in 1951, and again to suppress the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya in 1952. Hafez El-Assad of Syria notoriously destroyed half of the conservative Sunni city of Hama (massacring 20,000 men, women and children) as collective punishment for a Muslim Brotherhood uprising against his Alawi regime in 1982.

The Israeli Government's reduction of fuel and electricity exports to the Gaza Strip has recently been termed a modern instance of collective punishment that violates Israel's obligations under the laws of war. In a lawsuit filed by Israeli and Palestinian civil rights groups before Israel's Supreme Court, these organizations asked the Supreme Court to make Israel end fuel restrictions that caused power blackouts in the Gaza Strip. The activists argued, as did representatives of many members of the Security Council in their special meeting on the Middle East on January 22, 2008, that the restrictions constitute collective punishment of Gaza's 1.5 million people and violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.

But this claim is nonsense, and makes a mockery of international law. This is so for the following reasons:

It conflates failure to aid with active criminal harm. Acts of war are launched daily against Israel from Hamas-run Gaza. Bombs are lobbed against Israeli cities (especially Sderot), resulting in official government rejoicing when an Israeli civilian is killed or maimed. Hamas denies Israel's right to exist, and has masterminded countless acts of war against military and civilian targets in Israel.

The Jewish state has the uncontested right to defend itself against such acts of war. The bar on collective punishment forbids the imposition of criminal or military penalties (imprisonment, death, etc) on some people for crimes committed by other individuals. But ceasing trade with a country is not inflicting a criminal or military penalty against that country's citizens, not least because those citizens have no entitlement to objects of trade that they have not yet purchased. If Canada tolerated and celebrated car-bombings of Buffalo from Fort Erie, Ontario, the United States could cease exporting cars to Canada - such cessation of trade was never contemplated as collective punishment, because it is not a military or a criminal sanction. The United States quite legally froze trade with Iran after that country committed an act of War against the USA following the 1979 Revolution.

Even prevention of access of goods coming from third parties is not collective punishment: the U.S. blockade of Cuba after they installed nuclear missiles directed at the United States was not a collective punishment of the Cuban people, it was a non-violent act of war in self-defense. In any case, Israel has made no effort to prevent Gaza from receiving electricity from Egypt; it has merely declined to furnish this assistance itself. Article 49 of the Geneva Conventions clearly does not outlaw such acts. The current misuse of the term in the Security Council would have exactly that effect.

The electricity withheld from sale was a military tool. Article 52 of the 1977 Amendment to the Geneva Convention explicitly countenances attacks on legitimate military objectives, which are "those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage." As Israel has pointed out, its (minor) reduction in electricity sold means that "Hamas will have to decide whether to provide electricity to hospitals or weapons lathes." Diesel will be allowed in to fuel ambulances, sewage pumps, generators and garbage trucks, but gasoline will be restricted. According to estimates, Israel still exports approximately US$500 million worth of goods and services into the Gaza Strip each year.

The claim is Newspeak. The charge of collective punishment is appropriately leveled against one side in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute; but that side is not Israel. As Joseph Klein recently pointed out in a Front Page Magazine article, the innocent Israeli women and children slaughtered while going about their daily lives in homes, schools, on buses and at shopping malls are not warriors against the Palestinian people. They are in large number the victims of the Hamas' measures of collective punishment against Jews -- intimidation and terrorism, which violate their most basic of human rights - life itself. Indeed, Israel has targeted the perpetrators of these atrocities individually, entirely in conformity with its international obligations. When Israel kills such targets, precisely the people who have individually committed acts of war against Israel, it highlights the difference between legal force and collective punishment.

Michael I. Krauss is Professor of Law, George Mason University

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